Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday called upon Washington to stop "Israel's violence" against the Palestinians in the course of a private meeting with the United States ambassador to Israel, a source close to Mubarak said.

Mubarak told Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer that the US needed "to intervene to have Israel stop the violence against the Palestinians in order to resume the negotiating process" between the two sides, the source said.

The Egyptian leader urged the United States to "resume its role as a sponsor of the peace process," the source added.

The US ambassador to Egypt, David Welch, participated in the talks between Mubarak and Kurtzer, who also met on Monday with Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher during what has been described as a private visit to Egypt.

Kurtzer, who preceded Welch as the US ambassador in Egypt, told journalists that he had not taken any message from the Israeli government to Foreign Minister Maher.

In the meantime, Maher said his talks with both Kurtzer and Welch dealt with the "situation in Israel before elections" scheduled for the end of next month, according to AFP.

He added he had asked Kurtzer "to explain to Israel the need to end the bloodbath and to encourage it to abandon this path that leads nowhere." (Albawaba.com)